Dogs, cats, and humans alike can suffer from urinary calculi or stones, a dreaded buildup of irritating substances in the urinary tract that causes pain and even obstruction. Urolithiasis refers to calcifications that form in the urinary system, primarily in the kidney (nephrolithiasis) or ureter (ureterolithiasis), and may also form in or migrate into the lower urinary system (bladder or urethra). The onset of these diseases is when the amount of minerals present in the urine is high enough that the minerals are unable to remain dissolved. Thus, prevention measures include proper diets to reduce the intake of such problem-causing minerals.
Water described as “hard” is high in dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Water supplied as tap water is hard or soft depending on regions, and hard water is normally harmless to humans. However, calcium and magnesium content in generally supplied hard water can be too high for pets, whose bodies are smaller than humans, potentially leading to formation of urinary calculi or stones.
Systems and methods for water softening have been developed primarily for generating high-quality drinking water for humans. In particular, conventional technologies involve large scale systems to generate filtered water at the water source or complex devices including filter-regenerating functions. In view of the lack of developments targeted for use for dogs, cats and other small animals, this document provides a water softening device, which is portable, easy to handle and specifically tailored to generate soft water suitable for pets.